Does physical exercise equal brain power?

Today marks the third day in a row that I have officially exercised, as in gone to the fitness center and worked out.  Whew!  I have heard that exercise is good for your mood and brain as well as the rest of your body.  More exercise is supposed to result in better sleep and increased memory functioning, so I’ve heard.  Well, here are my results so far.  I have had less than 5 hours of sleep each night since Monday.  I was getting closer to six before that. Although I must admit I probably have a better attitude, I cannot for the life of me remember what day it is!  

Monday I was frantic trying to get Stephen’s homework project (major project) complete.  Our printer is broken so I emailed stuff to hubby at work, begging him to print it.  I called to be sure he got the message and everything was turning out fine.  After dinner we settled in to face the long night, planning to stay up till midnight if necessary to complete the project.  Then Stephen said, “Oh, yeah.  That’s not due till next week.”  Well, goodnight!

Tuesday I rushed home from the grocery store.  I had taken too much time shopping and the older two kids were home from school alone.  I didn’t know if they had a key or not since our last visitor borrowed it. She left it here, but I don’t know if it actually got back into the backpack where it belongs.  I was also concerned we were going to be at least ten minutes late for cub scouts.

I pulled in the driveway and the neighbor girl was there waiting for us.  “Can they play?”

“No.”  I said, honking the horn.  The boys had not even tried to go inside.  They both came running from the back yard.  I hollered, “Hurry get in!”

Girl says, “Why?”

“Because we’re leaving.  Hurry!  Get in boys!”

Girl: “Where are you going?”

“Bye, hurry up!  Close the door!”

“But, where are you going?  Can they play later?  Can’t any of them play?”

“Goodbye!”

I start driving down the street before they had their seat belts on, leaving said neighbor standing in our driveway. I felt bad for being rude, but we were so late!  Wasn’t it obvious we were trying to leave?  My frustration was curbed by the boys' happy demeanor.  They didn’t seem to care about anything at all.  Then they asked, “Where are we going Mom?”

“We’re late to cub scouts.”

“That’s not until tomorrow.”

“Oh, well, I guess we are just driving around the block.”

So, when the PTA called and asked, very apologetic for the short notice, if I could help at the school “tomorrow” I thought who in the world can help with less than 24 hours notice?  Well, I have no idea what day it is or what other obligations I have “tomorrow” so I may as well.   Who knows if I would be busy “Next week”?

This might be why my husband got me a giant desk calendar for Christmas.  I have heard that your projects are only as good as your tools.  Well, I would change that to how well you use your tools!  Yesterday the kids reminded me that you are supposed to check off the days of the week as they pass.  We checked five days and discovered that today is Lily’s second day of dance lessons. It might also help if I wrote a few more things on it.  (Happy birthday to all those in January!  Sorry if I missed it, hope it was great!)

After three days of exercise I can say, yes! I feel much better, much healthier.  But do I have a better sleep experience?  No.  Can I think more clearly?  Absolutely not.  Am I bored of the tread mill?  Completely. 

Luckily we have an X BOX Kinect.  I was playing Dance Central with the kids and discovered you can track your calories burned.  The kids asked about it and Dallas was real excited, “You should do that Mom!” 

Afterwards we sat to watch a movie. (We got a new TV and games for Christmas so it was the thing to do.)  Evan sat on my lap and said, “I can feel you getting skinnier already!” 

Kids are awesome!  I highly recommend them when moral support and brutal honesty are required.  Exercise is great, but the XBOX is much more X-citing.  Will exercise improve memory function?  Time will tell.  Maybe you need to work more than three days to see the results.   Otherwise, we are meeting our deadlines and being punctual much more lately.